My daughter inspired my writing for today. Several days ago she began a series on the 12 Permaculture Design Principles she learned in college, reflecting on how they apply to her life. Today she is on day 5, which is “Use & Value Renewable Resources & Services. – Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior & dependence on non-renewable resources.” She discussed physical resources, and then followed up with her experiencing not only the renewable resource of plants and wildcrafting, but how she experienced the infinite renewable resource that is Love. She said, “Love is the one place that we can always come from and the one place that we can always go. You can always, always gather, find, dig deep for, give & receive love.”
Next she stated she is interested in some other examples of intrinsic renewable resources & services, and that’s when “Acts of Kindness” came to my mind. Research shows that during an act of kindness, both the receiver and the giver each experience a rise of serotonin levels (a neurotransmitter that regulates mood in the brain), and the icing on the cake is: any observer who sees this act of kindness ALSO experiences the rise in their serotonin levels. The article linked below states that acts of kindness are addictive, saying, “kindness has an additive effect and it’s really the little things that add up. So no matter how big or how small, each act of kindness makes an impact for us all.”
I truly believe the best acts of kindness are the ones that are spontaneous and come straight from the heart, from a place of giving love to a fellow human or to the planet, as well as the ones that are preplanned, such as donating to your favorite charity or holding a benefit for a community member who is down on their luck and/or health. I like to see kindness shown to nature, like the photo of the girl cleaning up trash from the trail, and the little boy watering the plant that is growing in the gravel. And during these chaotic times, it makes my heart sing to see so many corporations giving where they can, and also so many people who are giving of their hearts through service or donation. This pandemic is certainly bringing out the best in a lot of people.
This article from Psychology Today is an interesting short read about the science of acts of kindness: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the-face-adversity/201211/practicing-acts-kindness#comments_bottom
I would like to share some stones whose healing properties contribute to the same feeling one gets with an act of kindness, with a link to its crystal definition on our website (and if you know of some that work for you, please share!):
